Fritz, Opelka, Pera and Anisimova Advance at Western & Southern Open; More on Boland's Departure from Baylor; Petition to Save Iowa Men's Tennis

After two days of qualifying, the first day of Western & Southern Open main draw competition Saturday saw four Americans advance to the second round. 

Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka both drew qualifiers for their first round opponents, and both had little difficulty picking up their first official ATP wins since February.  

Fritz didn't face a break point in his 6-1, 6-3 win over Lloyd Harris of South Africa and although his first serve percentage was only 56, he won all 22 points played after he got a first serve in. On ESPN, Brad Gilbert said that Fritz had been hitting serves in the 140 mph range during World Team Tennis; I watched quite a few WTT matches last month and don't recall that kind of serving performance, but with the WTT format of just one short set, I probably just missed those particular performances. Fritz will have Sunday off, with his opponent in the second round the winner of Sunday's match between Aljaz Bedene(SLO) and No. 13 seed Cristian Garin(CHI).

With 18, Opelka had exactly twice as many aces as Fritz, but he did need to save two break points in his 6-3, 6-4 win over Cameron Norrie of Great Britain. Norrie, the former TCU star, had those two break points in the last game of the first set and the last game of the match, but couldn't work himself back into the match. Opelka will also have Sunday off, with his second round opponent the winner of Sunday's match between Casper Ruud(NOR) and No. 9 seed Diego Schwartzman(ARG).

Bernada Pera was the only American to advance to the second round by beating a non-American, defeating Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Pera will play No. 16 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, who beat wild card Venus Williams 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, in the second round. Coco Gauff and Caty McNally both lost in straight sets, to Maria Sakkari and Alize Cornet, disappointing results for the teen-aged doubles partners. Eighteen-year-old Amanda Anisimova, who pulled out of last week's WTA event in Lexington with an injury, got her first win since February, beating No. 11 seed Alison Riske 6-3, 6-3 in the night match on Court 17.

Frances Tiafoe, who contracted the Covid-19 virus this summer, pushed fellow wild card and two-time W&S champion Andy Murray to a third set, but appeared to struggle physically in the third set on a hot and humid day in New York. Murray claimed a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1 decision for his first win in 2020. Murray, who had hip surgery last year and has a pelvic injury this year,  said of his match today:

"My tennis could have been better. I thought I could have played a bit better. You know, I guess that will come, the more matches I play. But, you know, I always need to see as well how I recover from a match like that too, because, you know, although I felt good during the match, things can sometimes stiffen up and hurt a bit afterward. I'm happy with how I did today. Would have liked to have played a bit better, but physically I was good. That is the most important thing for me, because that hasn't been the case for the last ten months."

Murray faces No. 5 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany Monday in the second round.

All results from Saturday can be found here.

Saturday’s first round singles matches featuring US women:

Amanda Anisimova d. Alison Riske[11] 63, 63

Dayana Yastremska(UKR) d. Venus Williams[WC] 57, 62, 75

Maria Sakkari[13](GRE) d. Coco Gauff 61, 63 

Alize Cornet(FRA) d. Caty McNally[WC] 60, 64

Bernarda Pera d. Heather Watson(GBR) 61, 36, 63

Karolina Muchova(CZE) d. Ann Li[Q] 64, 64 

Saturday’s first round singles matches featuring US men:

Taylor Fritz d. Lloyd Harris[Q](RSA) 61, 63

Reilly Opelka d. Cameron Norrie[Q](GBR) 63, 64

Ricardas Berankis[Q](LTU) d. Tommy Paul[WC] 67(4), 64, 75 

Andy Murray[WC](GBR) d. Frances Tiafoe[WC] 76(6), 36, 61 

Milos Raonic(CAN) d. Sam Querrey 64, 64

Sunday’s first round singles matches featuring US women:

Cici Bellis[Q] v Oceane Dodin[Q](FRA)

Christina McHale[Q] v Iga Swiatek(POL)

Danielle Collins v Jil Teichmann[Q](SUI)

Sloane Stephens[WC] v Caroline Garcia(FRA)

Jennifer Brady v Jessica Pegula[Q]

Sunday’s second round singles matches featuring US women:

Sofia Kenin[2] v Alize Cornet(FRA)

Sunday’s first round singles matches featuring US men:

Tennys Sandgren[WC] v Lorenzo Sonego(ITA)

John Isner[16] v Hubert Hurkacz(POL)

Mackenzie McDonald[Q] v Marcos Giron[Q]

JJ Wolf[Q] v Richard Gasquet(FRA)

Sebastian Korda[Q] v Emil Ruusuvuori[Q](FIN)

The ATP posted an article after yesterday's final round of qualifying with quotes from Wolf and Korda about earning a place in the main draw of a Masters event for the first time.

Sunday's full schedule is here.

The Waco Tribune-Herald published an article last night about the sudden resignation of men's tennis coach Brian Boland last month, a  departure preceded by an investigation into inappropriate text messages to a female student.

Will Davies, a senior on the Iowa men's tennis team, has started a change.org petition to save the program, which will be discontinued after the 2020-21 season. You can sign the petition here.